The Catbird Seat

It was bound to happen. I really don’t have much self-control.

I re-installed Site Meter on my blog.

I know, I know. I’m just asking for my addiction to come back in full force.

So far it hasn’t been as bad as in the past. I check it 3 or 4 times a day instead of, er…, um…, well, let’s just call it “a lot” and leave it at that.

I had been fighting the urge to put it back on the site, and then a couple of specific events happened, and whammo! I could resist no longer.

The first of these events was when MFR (Ruthie; see previous post) mentioned in front of the whole women’s retreat that I was a big blogger and that the ladies there should check it out.

The second of these events was when I got an email from a respected woman in the church who told me that my blog was the first—and only, I think—blog that she’d read. I think she mentioned that she bookmarked it. (I may be making that last part up, btw. Wishful thinking, probably.) I couldn’t believe it.

The third, and most significant, of these events was when MFA (Amy) told me that someone from Tel-Aviv, Israel was reading her blog: they came to her from me.

It was like house.gov all over again.

Who do I know in Tel Aviv? How did they find me? Is he/she a regular reader of mine?

I had to find out!

Of course, the fact that Site Meter won’t answer either of the first two questions didn’t occur to me at all.

FYI, he/she is apparently a regular reader of mine, and no, I still don’t know who he/she is. So, Tel-Aviv? Do me a favor and comment (or email me a cathymartinATbellsouthDOTnet). Thanks!

When I got ready to write this post, I looked up the term “off the wagon” on Answers.com. Turns out it comes from “on the wagon” meaning (and I quote)

Abstaining from drinking alcoholic beverages, as in “Don’t offer her wine; she’s on the wagon.”

“The wagon”, incidentally, was short for “water wagon” which was a horse-drawn water car used to spray dirt roads to keep down the dust. Like the one pictured above.

Interesting.

The term “off the wagon” means to return to drinking (or to the addictive behavior, in my case), and was used in Extra Dry (1906):

“It is better to have been on and off the wagon than never to have been on at all.”

Indeed.

Filed under: General, Catbird, Random Thoughts on July 25th, 2006